Consumers Energy plans major electric system upgrades for Boyne City

BOYNE CITY - Citing increasing demands on its electric supply system, Consumers Energy is poised to begin extensive upgrades to its system in Boyne City, including replacing a substation.

Consumers Energy spokesman Tim Petrosky said the preliminary work for the $1.5 million project is expected to begin next month.

The work will include building a new 7,200-volt substation to replace the 2,400-volt version that currently serves the area of city north of the Boyne River. Areas of the city south of the Boyne River are now served by a 7,200-volt substation in Boyne Valley Township several miles from town. When the new in-town substation is complete, it will serve most of the city on its own, Petrosky said.

Petrosky said the new substation will provide better service to the city in two ways: First it will reduce the chances of outages on the south side of the city because that portion of the city will be served by a much closer substation. The closer location means fewer chances for a fault along the line between the substation and south half of the city. Secondly, the substation voltage increase will provide additional capacity to meet the city's growing electrical demands.

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Petrosky said Consumers would like to locate the new substation near the existing north-side station's site, behind the company's service center at the corner of North East and Spring streets. He said plans for the substation are still in development and engineers have not yet determined if the site will be suitable for the new facility.

But the work won't end at the new substation. The new substation's increased voltage means that most if not all of the transformers and some of the distribution lines on the north side of town will need to be upgraded as well.

Petrosky said over the next several months Consumers crews will be working their way through the city's north side on a block-by-block basis replacing distribution lines, transformers, and other equipment and trimming trees as needed. He said any outages will vary in length, but the average will be about six hours. Over the course of the project, about 1,222 customers from the river to about Michigan Street will be affected. When the project is completed about 2,000 customers south of the river will be switched over to the new substation.

Petrosky said the company will notify residents and businesses via postcard far in advance of the planned outages.

For those seeking additional information, Consumers Energy representatives will be attending the next Boyne City City Commission meeting scheduled for 7 p.m. on Tuesday, April 14. Questions may also be directed to Consumers Energy by calling (800) 447-5050.